/lit/ - Literature

>>3379447
You people are strange.

I wonder why you can't return "forever" stamps.

>>3379394
Sure. Send me your mailing address, and at least some hint as to what you're into.
ben.thompson.blt@gmail.com

>>3379385
Why would I, when you do it for me?
I use the name because apparently I'm still recognized around here. That, and autofill.

Why is everyone so damned lazy?
What's wrong with sitting down and writing a letter, and then waiting in anticipation for a response?

>>3379147
You have to yell out "trainkid!" during sex if you met over OKcupid. It's all I ask.

>>3379082
Almost forgot! Unless you're in NYC, where there is an extremely large amount of attractive females on OKcupid, set your "parameters" to anywhere. Even if you will never ever ever go to Oklahoma City because it is a complete shit hole, still. Put down "everywhere". The only people you will meet in your home town are fucking nuts, and will draw a picture of you from memory and email it to you a week later. That's why my profile says I'm still in Memphis. That girl thinks I'm working out on a oil rig in North Dakota where I don't get phone service.

>>3379066
OKcupid is the bomb diggity.

First of all, pictures. That's the first thing people notice. People look through your pictures before they read your bull shit profile. I never, ever take photos of my self. Can't do it without feeling like an ass, and looking like one too. So the trick is to get people to take candid photos of you. Preferably when you're laughing at a joke, or smiling or something. Bonus points if you're at a party and there's people in the background (don't be holding a beer, that's just trashy. BUT if people in the background are holding beer, it shows off your ability to moderate your actions. Even if its a complete lie) Even more bonus points if you're wearing the exact same thing in all your photos, and they were all taken at obviously different times. That will make you stick out, and at the least they may be wondering why the fuck you like that shirt so much.

Now, onto the profile bit. Make everything vague. EVERYTHING. Internet strangers can't judge you if they don't really know anything about you. But don't put down shit like "I like physical sports", that's dumb. Put things down like "I had an interesting childhood" or, "I like interesting things." That sounds a little silly, but you know what I mean. This is also the key to never being caught in a eLie. They can't prove you didn't go to Harvard if you never mention when you went, or what you majored in!

Messaging girls. Since only rarely will they message you, you've got to take the initiative. Never introduce yourself, until much later in the conversation (oh, shit! I thought I already introduced my self) when she asks. Gotta keep em guessing.

>>3378937

Forgot to post an email...
I'm not posting the mailing address here.
ben.thompson.blt@gmail.com

>>3379003

I want no part of this discussion (because I think asking a girl on the internet how hot she is, and then saying how sad it is to flirt with women on the internet in the next sentence is pretty silly) but there's nothing wrong with meeting people via the internet. Hell, OKcupid is the shit if you leave your profile vague enough! And at least it's not like the old days, where you'd have some affair with a women via scented letters and never ever see her till you visited.

>>3378980
Eh, I'm going overseas and plan on staying for around 2 years. It's not like over here where even if you're on the west coast (my close family lives on the east coast) you can hop the right trains and be home for Christmas in 4 days. So I'm just hanging out with my mom and brother, selling plasma for beer money, reading, writing, and trying to stay put. I've already come close to leaving for the Keys, and it's going to get increasingly difficult with the rising temperature. But hey, at least I won't feel guilty next Christmas.
And thanks.
So who wants to exchange some letters?

>>3378943

Ended in a crock pot full of bull shit. I was stopped by a police officer en route (you've got to cross a highway to get to the good woods) and he first asked me what the fuck I was doing (there's really no excuse to be where I was, so I told him I was going to go explore some woods) and he told me that land was owned by the airport and TSA agents would find me on their patrol (?!), and that it's a federal offense to trespass on TSA property.
So I've been waiting for the right night to go camp out and then have the whole day to explore.

>>3378945
What? Are you disappointed I'm going to be in one place for 5 months?

>>3377374

1. 20, American, sedentary for the next 5 months, just discovered a hidden cache of stamps.

2. Snailmail.

3. Hunger, Knut Hamsun. The Painted Bird, Jerzy Kosinski. On Solitude, Montaigne. Most travel/adventure novels, as long as they aren't written by pretentious fucks (like Ted Connover.)

4. To learn about my self, and to discover similarities between strangers.

5. Possible future beer drinking acquaintance if I ever pass through your town. But mostly just friendship. I like the idea of being close to people so far away.

6.

7. Sure.

>>3368424
I like where your heads at, anon.

>>3368893
Yeah, because that's my fallback career if being homeless falls through.

>>3367977
Maybe I'm not conveying my ideas clearly enough, but people keep missing the point of what I'm saying. I NEVER said there wasn't a reward in it for me. For the longest time, I did just read. But then I realized it would feel REWARDING to give back to the community. That and I needed an outlet for my creativity. Writing accomplishes both of these things.

>>3367986
I feel like being forced (even by yourself) to write would somewhat limit your creativity. Like you're trying too hard, or something. But that makes sense that the writing would only seem forced in the beginning, and then become more fluid.

And I just needed an idea to get motivated last night, and I did, and started a story. Now the thread is just a conversation about substance abuse and people arguing about how some other peoples reason for writing is "wrong".

>>3367948
I never said it wasn't a reward-based activity for me, I just said I don't do it to be rewarded by dopamine. If I wanted to play around with the chemicals in my body, I'd do something other then writing. I think writing to get high is like eating baby aspirin to get high.

Personally, I write because I enjoy reading, and I want to hopefully contribute to the material out there worth reading.

I'm stepping out for a bit to apply at this fucking pizza joint. Don't wish me luck. I don't want the job. I'll be back in about 20

>>3367890
This doesn't create a "forced" attitude for you?

>>3367883
Point was, there's pleasure derived from writing other than dopamine. So, if dopamine isn't what I'm looking for, what would be the sense in rejecting some other substance that helps inspire or motivate me to write?
From what I understand, writers tend to be drunks. How does that fit in with your theory?

I'm genuinely curious at this point.

>>3367861
Well what if I don't write for that kind of pleasure?

>>3367840
Ah.

I torrented "the handbook of creative writing", and I've "flipped" through it. It seems okay, maybe one day I'll get down to reading it. Someone gave me their old poetry textbook they used in a creative writing class they took at the local community college, but I'm not really that interested in writing poetry, so It's just sitting there. When I get some money I may go down to the textbook buyback places and see if they have anything. Don't have a bank account or debit card, so Amazon is out the window.

http://writers.meetup.com/cities/us/nc/wilmington/
this is about all that came up on google. Not too promising.

>>3367830
Who said anything about creativity?
I was just asking what people do to motivate themselves. As in, what motivates you personally to get off 4chan and start writing?

Are you having frustration with creativity? Is that why you jumped to the conclusion we were saying coffee beans make you creative?

>>3367798
Who cares?
If it works, it works.

>>3367781

>>Nah you're a namefag not a tripfag, trips have codes.

Didn't know that, thanks.

>>Your internal critic is in overdrive fwiw.
Maybe. And I have no idea what "fwiw" means.

>>NaNoWriMo.org for some genres/styles, AbsoluteWrite when you're serious about publishing, also the shame is mostly in your own head.

I'll check those out. And I don't know, I've had nosed turned down towards me many a time for not having gone to writing school. People always just assume "oh he must be talking about writing a diary".

It's tricky, because one of us is in rehab in Memphis, the other is on a two week deployment with the National Guard to practice digging holes, one of us is too busy having sex with his new girlfriend to do anything productive in Carrboro, and I'm too busy wasting my time on the internet.
But I have been trying to find some college students who are taking writing classes, and convincing them to relate whatever assignments they receive to me, so I can practice, and build a body of work.
I'm in a really small town right now, but I'll give it a shot anyways. The college in this town isn't known for its writing program, so I assume if there IS a writing group it will be nothing but old retired ladies.

>>3367772
They cost way too much, (you can get a weeks supply of coffee beans, to be munching on constantly, for about 2 bucks) are probably much more detrimental to your health then coffee beans, and you don't get the oral fixation of cracking the bean in half, and chewing it whatever weird way you like you. Think: sunflower seeds that have a bitter taste for the first day you chew them, and keep you WIRED.

>>3367734
You should start chewing coffee beans. Once you get over the taste, it's like crack. You don't dilute the coffee bean with water like you would drinking normal coffee, and you don't have to piss every 10 minutes either. Seriously, you can notice the caffeine kicking in way quicker then you would by drinking the stuff. Best decision I've ever made.

Go ahead and smoke some, worst case scenario you get "too high" and can't do a damned thing. But try rolling a spliff if you smoke tobacco, and slowly increase the amount of pot you roll with the joint.